Kudo's Kim!!
Am with you 100%!!! No ferret is "unadoptable!" - Most considered so
by others are just old or require special care. And, much like with
people, it seems certain folks always seem to rise to the occasion
and help.
Just to explain for others how FACT approaches the issue. All shelter
ferrets are available for adoption with only a very few exceptions.
In the ferret's interest, once a ferret has been placed into a foster
home, it is no longer available for adoption unless, for some unlikely
reason, he/she is returned to the shelter. (We do not like to uproot
ferrets, particularly the elderly).
We are very fortunate to have a network of very experienced ferret
owners/lovers willing to take on special needs/elderly ferrets. I
personally have 3 which, at the moment, happen to be the only ferrets I
have. Any FACT member is eligible to be considered as a foster parent.
Those with health issues such as insulinoma go to highly experienced
foks; while those who are elderly may be fostered with young (with
parental support) or less experienced owners. All, of course, receive
FACT support for any issues.
Once a ferret goes into a foster home, FACT (as we retain ownership),
retains responsibility for any medical bills. Therefore, FACT must also
approve any medical expenditure. Foster families are free to provide
additional or more extensive care. Many also choose to pay all care out
of pocket. As a non-profit organization, those expenses can be treated
as donations for income tax purposes. But we have to realistically
deal with making , sometimes, very hard choices with respect to the
treatment or vet we can afford. These are shelter, not personal
ferrets. While it would be wonderful to treat all as I might my
personal pets, the reality is that shelter animals do not receive
Caddilac care. We have to carefully weigh expense to the benefit to
the ferret. Thus while we will do all in our power to make a ferret
comfortable and pain free; we cannot spend unlimited amounts to add 2
months to their lifespan.
That is probably about the hardest part of running the shelter: Making
those decisions. But they are always done with the counsel of our vet
or, vets if necessary. And always with a lot of soul searching. It
sometimes has cost us a superb foster family if we must refuse to use
their vet of choice (interestingly, that is usually the issue, rather
than the treatment protocol).
This approach, which has the full support of our generous donors, has
allowed us to place some severely handicapped ferrets into "normal"
homes. Our attitude has been that every ferret NOT at FACT allows us
to take in another needy ferret. Our philosophy is that a proper home
is the best environment for a ferret. Our shelter, is a place of last
resort.
Thus we have some very unusual arrangements! For example, our shelter
director, Vanessa, in addition to having adopted ferrets, also
permanently fosters several ferrets, as do I and some of our members.
Those members financially capable of doing so, may choose to outright
adopt; or, if financially challenged, may chose to permanently foster.
When they can, they pay for routine or less expensive medical care; but
FACT's ability to fund more expensive and emergency surgery and care is
a safely net which allows them to care for more ferrets than they might
otherwise feel comfortable. We have had folks who never had a ferret,
find an elderly ferret, that after interviews and support, we have
allowed to keep the ferret under our foster program umbrella. We try
to have guidelines, not rules. The only rule is that the need of the
ferret/s rule the rules!
Of course, this would not work without the very generous support of
our foster "grandparents" who fund the program - some of who are also
foster parents! :)
Just a quick point - - our foster grandparent program is one on one -
each has a specific ferret. That is purposeful as we all want to
personalize our support whenever possible. It is time consuming - it is
very difficult to manage, but for us it works and has worked well for
all involved- particularly the fur kids who have real families with
special one on one time they just can't get inside an active shelter.
Bottom line, with this program, we have been able to eliminate the term
"unadopable" from FACT's vocabulary (but don;t hound me if you find it
on our website! LOL)
Ann Gruden
President
Ferret Assn of CT, Inc.
[Posted in FML 5753]
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